Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [17]
“We came out of hyperspace near the Kessel system,” Wedge said, “and we’re lining up our vector to go in. I thought you might want to watch.”
She swallowed a lump in her throat and stepped forward to take his hand. The black holes formed a maze of gravity wells and dead-end hyperspace paths; only a few dangerously “safe” courses made passage possible through the tangled labyrinth.
“We downloaded the course from the Sun Crusher,” Wedge said. “I hope nothing’s changed, or we’ll all have a big surprise when we try to make it through.”
Qwi nodded. “It should be safe,” she said. “I double-checked the route.”
Wedge looked at her warmly, as if her verification gave him more confidence than all the computer simulations.
The black hole cluster was an impossible astronomical oddity; for thousands of years astrophysicists had attempted to determine its origin—whether some freak galactic combination had led to the birth of the black holes, or whether some impossibly ancient and powerful alien race had assembled the cluster for its own purposes.
The Maw sent out deadly radiation and was even now drawing the Kessel system to its eventual doom. For the present, though, the Empire had found a stable island within the cluster and had built its secret laboratory there.
“Let’s go then,” Qwi said, looking out at the brilliant gases flaring in incredible slow motion. She had much to learn—and a score to settle. “I’m ready.”
The ships of the Maw assault fleet spread apart, arrowing one by one into the heart of the black hole cluster.
5
One wing of the rebuilt Imperial Palace had been converted into a crèche for the water-loving Calamarian people, humid quarters for those brought by Admiral Ackbar and trained as his specialized starship mechanics.
The crèche had been built of smooth plasteel and hard metal fashioned to look like a reef within the towering palace. Some of the round portholes looked out upon the glittering skyline of Imperial City, while others gazed in on an enclosed water tank that circulated around the rooms like a trapped river.
A loud venting of mist from the humidity generators startled Terpfen out of nervous contemplation. He looked around his quarters wildly, swiveling his circular eyes, but he saw nothing in the shadows, only a jewel-blue light shining through the water windows. He watched as a gray-green glurpfish oozed its way along the channel, filtering microorganisms from the brine. No sound intruded other than the steam generators and bubbling aerators in the wall tanks.
Terpfen had heard nothing in his mind, felt no compulsion from his Imperial masters on Carida for more than a day, and he didn’t know whether to be frightened … or hopeful. Furgan usually taunted and jabbed him regularly, just to remind him of his constant presence. Now Terpfen felt alone.
Rumors flew around the Imperial Palace. Distress signals had been detected from Carida, and then all contact had broken off. New Republic scouts had been dispatched to inspect the area. If Carida had somehow been destroyed, then perhaps the Imperial hold on his brain had been severed. Terpfen could finally be free!
He had been taken prisoner during the vicious Imperial occupation of the water world Calamari. Like many of his people, Terpfen had been dragged to a labor camp and forced to work at the starship-construction facilities.
But Terpfen had been damned to undergo a special kind of training. Taken off to the Imperial military planet of Carida, he had suffered weeks of torture and conditioning as xenosurgeons removed portions of his brain and replaced them with vat-grown organic circuits that allowed Furgan to use Terpfen as a perfectly disguised puppet.
The poorly stitched scars on his swollen head had served as badges of his ordeal once he was released. Many Calamarians had also been severely tortured during the occupation, and no one suspected Terpfen of treachery.
For years he had tried to resist his Imperial